New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation is implementing projects worth Rs 3,422.43 crore in the North Eastern Region, the government told the Loksabha on Monday. The statement was made by the Union Minister for DoNER, Tourism and Culture, G Kishan Reddy, in reply to a question in the Lower House on the steps being taken by the government to facilitate investments by the States through regional connectivity in the Northeast.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation is implementing projects worth Rs 3,422.43 crore in the North Eastern Region. Apart from expenditure by connectivity related Union Ministries, 51 projects worth Rs 4,345.16 crore have been sanctioned under MDoNER schemes for connectivity projects in North Eastern Region”, Parliament was told.
However, replying to another question on the expenditure by the government in the schemes for the Northeast region in the last 10 years, Reddy said, “As per the extant policy of the government, all non-exempted Union Ministries (currently 55) are mandated to spend at least 10% of their Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) to the Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes for the North Eastern Region.
He said that the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has released a total of Rs 231.50 crore for 33 projects between the financial year 2018-19 and 2022-23 under special development packages to Bodoland Territorial Council, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council and Dima-Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council.
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Additionally, 15 projects worth Rs 69.95 crore for selected backward communities, 38 projects worth Rs 174.26 crore for selected backward blocks, and 14 projects worth Rs 26.56 crore for providing key identified services in selected villages have been sanctioned in the financial year 2021-22 and 2022-23 by the NEC”, the minister told the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, as on March 31 this year, a total of 19 railway infrastructure projects with a total track length of 1,909 km worth Rs 81,941 crore, falling fully or partly in the North Eastern Region are in different stages of planning, approval and execution, of which 482 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.37,713 crore has been incurred, G Kisan Reddy said.
On the question of the government's initiative to increase investments in NE states to boost regional connectivity, he noted that a total of 261 road projects under different schemes of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with a total sanctioned cost of Rs 1,02,594 crore are under implementation through National Highways Authority of India, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited and State Public Works Departments in the North Eastern States.
Moreover, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is implementing projects worth Rs 3,422.43 crore in the North Eastern Region. Apart from expenditure by connectivity-related Union Ministries, 51 projects worth Rs 4,345.16 crore have been sanctioned under MDoNER schemes for connectivity projects in the North Eastern Region.
